Someone Saying Notre Dame's Leprechaun Must Go

posted by Harold Mann -

Jan 31, 2018

One day after Major League Baseball announced that the Cleveland Indians would stop using the "Chief Wahoo" logo, which many Native Americans find offensive, ESPN host Max Kellerman said Tuesday (January 30th) that it's time for Notre Dame's Leprechaun mascot to go too and for the college's team to stop being called the "Fighting Irish." Kellerman acknowledged that many Irish-Americans aren't offended by Notre Dame's nickname and mascot, which shows a Leprechaun with his fists up, but said that at the same time many are. Kellerman said, "Pernicious, negative stereotypes of marginalized people that offend even some among them should be changed. It’s not that hard." One person backing him up on social media was MLB Network host Brian Kenny, the son of an Irish immigrant, who tweeted: "For all saying 'they've never met a single Irishman offended': The Notre Dame mascot is an embarrassment." Notre Dame's website says that "Fighting Irish" was adopted as the school's official nickname in 1927, although stories suggest it could go back as far as the 1890s. The site says: "The most generally accepted explanation is that the press coined the nickname as a characterization of Notre Dame athletic teams, their never-say-die fighting spirit and the Irish qualities of grit, determination and tenacity." It adds, however, "The term likely began as an abusive expression tauntingly directed toward the athletes from the small, private, Catholic institution." (ESPN)

Harold Mann

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